Have you ever met someone who just “has it” – that special quality you can’t quite name but you can feel? It’s like a secret sauce in a recipe: you don’t know every ingredient, but you know it makes everything better.

From years of my own experience on teams and managing them, I have found what I think is the “secret sauce” when it comes to building relationships, having a strong reputation, and doing impactful work. It’s something that sets the best partners, teammates, friends, managers, and employees apart.

And one of the ways this “secret sauce” is so unique is that if you have it or do it well, people hardly notice it. However, if you don’t have or practice it, it’s immediately obvious and can undermine your relationships and destroy people’s confidence in you.

So, what is it? The secret sauce is resourcefulness.

What Does That Mean?

Maybe you read the word “resourceful” and you think about managing money, or maybe you think of growing up in Scouts or camping for the first time and fending for yourself in the wilderness. Those images aren’t wrong, but they don’t give the full picture.

Being resourceful is about doing the most with what you have. It’s equal parts creativity, ownership, and care for the people around you. It requires you to know what you already have so that you can maximize use and impact with it in the future. And it requires you being willing to be inconvenienced a little bit – it means not doing the easiest thing because the easiest is a short-term play, not a long-term one.

Why Does It Matter?

When you take advantage of the resources that you have before you ask someone for help, it shows them that you respect their time and recognize your current priority might not be theirs. It shows them that if they have already shared something with you, you appreciate and remember that, so you’ll use what they’ve already given you.

Knowledge and time are huge gifts. When we do our best to not take for granted what someone has already given us in those forms, it’s a reflection of what they mean to us, our appreciation for their time and knowledge sharing, and how seriously we take our relationship/work together.

What Does It Look Like?

Here are some examples that show resourcefulness (or a lack thereof)….I’ll let you be the judge 😊:

• I used to be the girl who asked for someone’s address every single time I visited. Not a big deal…until I realized I’d asked the same friend three times in one year. At that point, it wasn’t just forgetfulness, it was a lack of resourcefulness. It felt like a giant sign was over my head saying, “I am too lazy to save your address in my phone.”
• In college, every professor with a detailed syllabus or outline for the semester covered the same topic during our first class. It sounded something like, “Before you ask me a question, look at the syllabus first since it outlines our whole semester.” I thought it was obnoxious at first, but I can’t imagine getting the same question between 50-300 times every week, so I understand why they did it.
• I once had a coworker who came to me with every tech question. I didn’t know the software any better than they did – I think the difference between us was that I spent a few minutes troubleshooting on Google. Eventually I had to start responding with, “Did you try Googling it?” because answering their questions had become frustrating to me. I am happy to help a teammate out, but it felt like they assumed I had the time or bandwidth to look into something I wasn’t even struggling with, even during my busiest times.

And here are ways that I encourage you to be resourceful in your own life:

• Check all of your available resources before you ask someone for/about something. This means reviewing Google, internal work sites or databases, your budget, YouTube, or previous emails/texts. At work, checking all of your onboarding resources before asking your manager also signals that you appreciate how much effort went into your training.
• Get organized with what you have so you can find things easily. You can’t refer to previous communication or materials if you literally can’t locate them physically or electronically. Spend some time making online and physical organization systems that work for you. At my desk, I have a full-time job drawer, a writing/speaking drawer, and an office supplies drawer. I also have my former training & development materials in easy access in my office closet. Do whatever works for you – it doesn’t need to be complicated, but you must be able to find something when you need it.
• Actually listen, take notes, and be engaged in conversations and meetings to remember things more easily. When we’re distracted by technology or our mental to-do list, we aren’t present enough to actually grasp what was talked about. Do your best to be focused in a meeting so that it’s easier for you to recall the information or discussion later. And if you don’t take notes during it, grab a notebook or your phone afterwards to write down important things to come back to or remember.
• Before you get something new, check to see what you already have. This is true from a work standpoint if you manage any sort of inventory, and it’s true of your own household items. I’ve had a bad habit of buying grocery items I already have if I don’t take time to look for something before going shopping. It can be a waste of money, and very frustrating. If you take the time to double-check before you purchase something new, your future self and wallet will thank you.
• Be willing to try to do something different with what you already have before getting rid of it. In many cases, things don’t go as planned. Or in other cases, we use something and it could take on a different use after it. Consider the physical items you have – how could it benefit you or someone else in another way? Sometimes at work, we have budgets we need to use each year or we could lose the money. How can you be creative to use it in a way that maximizes impact? Or at home, how can some of your belongings take on another life? I use empty plastic milk jugs as watering cans for my plants. It sounds silly, but if you’re finding small ways to make sure something is used to the best of its ability, then you’re conditioning your mind to do it for bigger ways, too.
• Research options before making a decision. This can be easy in our world today. I rely heavily on reviews before deciding where to buy something or get a service completed. However, this becomes more important when it involves other people. If you can share solid options with a friend or manager that shows you put time into looking into it before meeting, it shows that you really care and want the best for them. And if you ask someone for help, be prepared to think about how they can best help you. My friend came over to help me buy a couch. It could’ve taken all day if I didn’t know what I wanted or where to go. I found a store I wanted to go to and screenshotted some options. It made the whole day seamless and much more enjoyable, showing her I respected her time and appreciated her willingness to help me.
• Communicate when something comes up. There will always be roadblocks that force us to adjust our plans, and we’ll all make mistakes we feel embarrassed about. Taking ownership of the mistake or admitting that something is off-course can be a game-changer in your work and relationships. Communicating as soon as you can that something is going on or your plans changed with the people impacted helps you build trust. This can be as simple as letting someone know you can’t make it to a social event or sending notes to a teammate when you’ll miss a meeting because you’re sick – these show you recognize others will be affected and you still want things to go as smoothly as they can.
• Double-check your work before turning it in, and consider taking it up a notch visually. It’s important to always double (and sometimes triple) check your work, even emails you send. This is especially critical early in your career as you’re building credibility and teaching yourself good habits. And once you double-check it, can you add anything that will make it look visually even 1% better? One of my favorite professors talked about going the extra mile to be proud of the work you turn in – adding a cover page to a report, or spending extra time on it. I think that’s a great motto and will help show that you care about what you do.

Bringing It Home

The above advice and insights are not about being perfect – it’s about showing that you care about the people and work in your life through your actions. It signals that they matter (or it matters) so much that you will do what you can to the best of your ability with what you have right now.

Showing that you are thankful for what they’ve already invested in you and that you respect everyone’s full plates can make your relationships better. Utilizing all the tools at your fingertips now can help make your work more impactful in the long run. Taking an extra few minutes to do something well rather than just finishing it shows you care about the result and how it affects others, not just getting it done.

All of these building blocks of resourcefulness will help you build a strong personal brand – people will know they can count on you to do things well, find solutions to problems, and you care about what you do. And while you do it, you’ll build stronger relationships and make a deeper impact.

Now that you know the secret sauce…

• What can you do this week that will help you feel 1% prouder of the work you do?
• What is your current reputation on a team or in your closest relationships? Do others feel like they can count on you to do something and to do it well? If not, what can you do this week to improve that?